The present invention refers to a device for supporting reading of a text from a display member, comprising first means, which are arranged to provide a text, which consists of a number of characters forming words in said text, and to display at least a part of said text on the display member. When we read a text from a paper we normally read at a reading speed of 150-300 words per minute. The higher figure refers to an easier text and the lower figure to a more complicated text. Investigations have been done showing that the reading speed is about 25% lower when we read a text from a screen. It means that the normal reading speed from a screen is about 110-125 words per minute. There are probably several explanations to why reading of a text from a screen is slower than from a paper, but probably all people reading texts from screen as well as paper are aware of this difference.
When reading from a paper, it is known to utilise some sort of aiding means, for instance a finger or a pencil, wherein the pencil advantageously is guided along the text rows somewhat ahead of the word to be read for the moment. Research has disclosed that such a reading technique enables a significant increase of the reading speed without reducing the capability of memorising the text read.
Different types of read aiding means are also known from the patent literature. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 3,872,327 discloses a device for facilitating reading of a text from a TV-screen. Thereby, the TV-screen is covered by a raster in such a way that the whole of the text disappears and only the word or words to be read are visible to the user in a window. The window may move at a desired speed over the screen and in such a way the reader is forced to follow the movements of the window with the eyes. However, such a device ought to have certain disadvantages since only the words to be read for the moment are visible. It is difficult to the user to have an overview of the text and to know where in the text he is positioned. Furthermore, the window with the displayed words or word seems to move stepwise rather than at a uniform continuous movement in order to display whole words at each moment. U.S. Pat. No. 3,721,021 discloses a mechanical device including a ruler being movable vertically over a text. U.S. Pat No. 5,592,143 discloses a device for supporting reading by means of a pulsating sound. The frequency of the sound pulses generated are variable in order to improve the reading learning. U.S. Pat. No. 3,698,103 discloses another mechanical device for increasing the reading speed of a user. The mechanical device includes a plurality of cam-controlled diaphragm members sequentially showing areas of a text.
Furthermore it is known to feed successively a text to a piece of music in a so called karaokee-machine. Thereby, one or two rows of the text is disclosed, which are fed successively at a speed determined by the music.
The object of the present invention is to provide a device or a tool by which reading of a text from a display member may be facilitated and more efficient, in particular by which the reading speed may be increased.
This object is obtained by the device initially defined, which includes second means which are arranged to display a marking, marking at least one character of said part of the text on the display member, wherein said second means are arranged to move the marking in an automatic manner on the displayed part of the text in order to control the reading of the text. Such a marking which automatically moves over a text facilitates to a reader to follow the text with the eyes. The reader may thereby concentrate to a higher extent on the content of the text and does not need to force himself to look after his position in the text. By a marking according to the invention a significant increase of the reading speed ought to be possible to obtain.
According to an embodiment of the invention, said second means are arranged to control the movement of the marking in such a way that the movement appears as a substantially continuous movement along a preferably horizontal portion of the displayed part of the text or in other words along a row of the displayed part of the text. By such a uniform movement of the marking, the eyes of the reader may easily follow the text i.e. the marking is moving without jumping from character to character with a continuous speed over a text portion, for instance a text row, before it comes to the next row.
According to a further embodiment of the invention, a regulating member is provided, by means of which the speed, by which the marking moves over the text, is controllable. By such a regulating member an individual adaptation of the moving speed of the marking is obtained. The reader may also adapt the speed to different degrees of difficulty of the text being read for the moment.
According to a further embodiment of the invention, said second means are arranged to change from displaying said part of the text to displaying a successive part of the text when the marking is located in the proximity of the end of said part, wherein the marking is arranged to move continuously in the text from said part to the successive part. In such a way, an automatic scrolling of the text is obtained and the user will in an easy manner find the correct position in the text for continuing reading after a page break, i.e. the marking will be located where the user is to begin the reading after a page break.
According to a further embodiment of the invention, the marking includes an area which is displayed on the display member and located in front of the marked character, wherein said area hides substantially completely the part of the text which is located within said area. The marking forms thereby a forward limit of the part of the text which is displayed on the display member. Thereby, the marking may be arranged to display the area as a substantially empty surface. Such an empty or substantially blank surface without any signs or patterns does not guide away the eyes, but the reader may concentrate on the text. Advantageously, the marking may be arranged to permit selection of colour of the substantially empty surface.
According to a further embodiment of the invention, an initiating member is arranged to permit a user to start and stop, respectively, the movement of the marking. In such a manner it is easy for the reader to take a short break in reading, for instance, for any purpose.
According to a further embodiment of the invention, said second means are arranged to display the marking in such a manner that the marking appears as a substantially fixed marking. It is not tiring to keep the eyes on such a fixed marking moving along the text in comparison with a marking which twinkles for instance.
According to a further embodiment of the invention, the text is provided in a conventional manner per se in rows having a number of words in each row, wherein said second means are arranged to control the movement of the marking from one row to another row. Thereby, said second means may be arranged to control the movement of the marking from one row to the successive row in such a manner that the marking jumps from the one row from a position located at a distance from the end of the row in question to the successive row to a position located at a distance from the beginning of the row in question.
According to a further embodiment of the invention, the marking includes a line or a stroke extending beneath at least one character along the row in question. Other examples of advantageous embodiments of the marking are a shadowing extending over at least one character along the row in question, a frame extending around at least one character in said part of the text or a italicising of at least one character in said part of the text. Thereby, the marking may advantageously be arranged to mark, at each point of time, a number of characters on the display member or to mark, at each point of time, at least one word in said part of the text.
The object is also obtained by the device initially defined, which includes second means arranged to feed successively said part of the text on the display member in Such a manner that a forward limit of said part of the text is moved forwardly and that an increasing part of the text is disclosed, wherein said second means are arranged to move said limit in an automatic manner in order to control the reading of the text.
Preferred embodiments of this device are described below in greater detail.
According to a further embodiment of the invention, the display member includes an electronic display member, for instance in the form of a cathode-ray tube or a LCD-screen. Furthermore, said first means may include a computer, for instance a PC, digital television, pagers, cellular telephones, for instance so called WAP-telephones, radio or an electronic book. Said first means also include software, e.g. in the form of a word-processing program.
According to a further embodiment of the invention, a third means are arranged to permit storing of a portion of the text in a memory member, wherein these third means include an actuating member designed to initiate storing by the reader defining a start position and an end position for said portion. In such a way it is possible to create a directory including text portions being interesting to the reader.